The Trump administration finalized approval for an oil lease auction Monday, clearing the way for drilling in the massive and pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The move is expected to set off a fierce legal battle, though Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told reporters he believed lease sales could take place “by the end of the year.” Drilling would undo decades of protection for the 19 million acre refuge, which contains the largest onshore oil reserves in North America, according to the oil industry. “There’s no good time to open up America’s largest wildlife refuge to drilling and fracking, but it’s absolutely bonkers to endanger this beautiful place during a worldwide oil glut,” Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, told the New York Times. (New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, AP, NPR, Bloomberg $, Reuters, Politico, E&E $, Axios, The Guardian)